Just got my pistol back from a local gunsmith and he pretty much confirmed what you both said. He put the age of the pistol at 1952 also and said that there was a large amount of build up gunk inside that was causing the return spring (or something to that affect) bind up and not reset the action completely. Now the bad news, he said that it had been re-nickeled, and badly at that. Some of the gunk was actually nickel plating that had gotten into the "guts" of the pistol. He said that for $150 I got a great deal but it would not be worth as much on the collectors market because of that.

Still, it is the perfect CCW weapon for me here in Ohio. Including the $60 bucks that the gunsmith charged me and $20 for an Uncle Mike's concealment holster, I paid a total of $230 for this piece and saved over $150 - $200 off the price of a new comparable model. Not to mention what I would of spent to buy a Glock G27 or equivalent if I went that route.